NASCAR Bursts Into Overdrive

Question: NASCAR boasts one of the highest percentages of female fans in the sports world — what percentage is that?

(You can find the answer inside and at the end of the article.)

When the Cart Championship Series stopped in Montreal, Canada in August 2002 at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, it marked the first time that both Formula One and Cart cars raced on the same track in the same year. As you can imagine, the media and organizers were interested in how the Cart and F1 cars stacked up against each other.

For those interested in the comparison, the F1 cars were roughly six seconds faster per lap. Given F1's much larger budget, different technical specifications, and the tire war between Bridgestone and Michelin, it's no surprise that it boasts faster cars.

southern comfort

One circuit that was not mentioned in the same breath was the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, or NASCAR. Its cars are stock automobiles rather than the open wheel ones seen in F1 and Cart. But NASCAR is increasingly being differentiated on numerous levels.

Founded in 1947 by Bill France, NASCAR was rooted in the Deep South, and focused on finding and establishing regional stars out of a crop of journeymen who not too long ago had been escaping federal agents instead of chasing checkered flags.

Over the decades, NASCAR has steadily emerged as a very successful sport. Its marquee event — the Daytona 500 — is considered one of the main draws in the American calendar. In fact, the NFL is the only regularly televised sports organization that draws higher ratings than the NASCAR Winston Cup, which runs from February to November. This has not gone unnoticed by the networks: in the Fall of 1999, Fox and TBS signed a six-year $2.4 billion deal, effectively quadrupling NASCAR's TV income on the spot.

If you think that TV income statistic is impressive, wait until you hear the rest. When it comes to merchandising sales, retails sales of NASCAR merchandising grew from $80 million to $1.13 billion between 1990 and 2000. Using a basic future value formula, this translates into a 34% compounded annual growth rate — not surprising when you consider that attendance has shot up from 3.3 million in 29 events to 6.5 million in 34 events from 1990 to 2000.

marketing builds brands

NASCAR's impressive growth can be partially credited to strong marketing. Is it thus any surprise that marketers have followed NASCAR, branding themselves all over cars, at events and on the drivers themselves? Of course not — the appeal of having your corporate logo on a car zooming around a track is clear. With thousands in the stands and millions tuning in to the race on TV, NASCAR's marketing cache is evident. But that is only half of it.